*Lo*

I can't even watch the dancing because of this. It looks like she maybe showed up super late and they were like "fack Cat you dumbass we don't have time to do your hair now". And then they just pushed her onstage.

It's SO distracting you are right Kathy. Cat's hair should be in the bottom 3. It's killing me!

seriously what's going on with cat's hair tonight? for real.

Wow you have some great contenders here!!! I personally love #6. It's so different and it looks like it was made for you!! Goodluck with your decision but seriously you can't really go wrong with any of them.

hehe Steph that is effing great. since the first thing most brides do after deciding they like a photographer's work, is google them and look for reviews or other forms of due diligence, I'm pretty sure other brides will not even waste their time contacting him! RIDICULOUS.

We're doing something a little different. Mostly based on timing. But we're going on a pre-wedding moon. My FI is graduating from his MBA program at the end of May 2010, and he starts back at his job in August. So I negotiated time off of work and we are heading to Africa for 2 months! Because we are viewing this as a once in a lifetime trip, traveling to several countries and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, doing a safari, relaxing in Zanzibar, staying in a beach house in Kenya, two weeks in Egypt and then to the World Cup in South Africa. We figure we wont ever have the opportunity again to do something like this (with our jobs, having kids in a few years etc) so we're going all out. We've booked most of it and it's about $35,000 including what we budgeted for food and drinks. We are using points for the long haul flights to get there. It's also kind a trip to celebrate FI getting an MBA. So to compare 2 weeks at a resort somewhere for the same price, I honestly can't even imagine spending that when we could do this instead!!! That being said we're just going to stay at the resort our wedding is at for a few extra days after the wedding and then come home.

Ya those countries you just get the card on the plane, fill it out and immigration takes half and you give them the other half when you leave. That is easy. Anything involving visiting a consulate ahead of time is a major hassle. Some countries I believe you can apply for the tourist visa without going in person and they send it to you. I think Brazil might have that. You have to pay like $200 for it though.

Not sure. I don't think they've announced any plans. They are just "monitoring the situation". Hopefully nothing turns on this. It is a very big deal though that Canada has implemented this. Especially with the Czech Republic. There is going to be some serious backlash.

So currently a visa is NOT required for Canadians to travel to Mexico (as tourists). But as of today Mexican citizens are required to go to Mexico City to the Canadian consulate and apply for a visa to be able to enter Canada. They have to prove they have financial means to travel to Canada, prove that they are in good health and they will do a background check etc. So although it's not a concern right now for Canadians, typically when Canada imposes such a requirement on another country, they reciprocate. So that would mean, Canadians would need to visit the Mexican embassy (I doubt they exist in every city) and apply for a visa to go on vacation in Mexico. Hopefully they will not require Canadians to go through this process. I can't even see my parents going through all that to be able to go to Cabo for 4 days for my wedding. Seriously I'd have to change the destination. Fingers crossed nothing turns on this!

They haven't announced the requirement for Canadians yet and have just said they are 'assessing the situation'. Whatever that means. Hopefully due to the economy and the swine flu and reduced tourism in Mexico they won't follow through!

As of today, Mexican citizens are required to obtain a tourist travel visa to enter Canada. Typically when these travel requirements are implemented, they are reciprocal. So it may be that Mexico will require Canadians to obtain a visa to travel to Mexico. Just wondering if anyone had heard anything further or is concerned about this? I know it's not the end of the world but it would add extra complexity for guests and possibly an extra cost. I think I would consider changing my destination should this become a new requirement. Canada also imposed this requirement on the Czech Republic, who did not take it so well and are imposing the requirement on Canadians and said they are lobbying the European Union to have all EU countries require Canadians to obtain visas!! Thoughts?

At first I thought that would bother me but I guess it won't really matter. 3 or 4 I think would be excessive though!

If you are going to have one, great...It's great to get to celebrate with everyone, but just don't be tacky about it. What I mean is I received a facebook invite to a stag&doe, I wasn't invited to the wedding, I haven't spoken to the girl in like 3 years, and the invite said "Come out and raise money for Her and His wedding" That just irritated me. I mean I wasn't even invited to the wedding, (wasn't really expecting to be since we don't talk anymore) but then sending an invite to come basically donate to their wedding? A few others received the invite and we messaged each other about it and the consensus was that the way it was done was terrible. I guess that is where a lot of my negativity towards it comes from. If it's customary where you are from to have one, and everyone does then I wouldn't worry about it, go for it!

Haha ya it's pretty awesome that tomorrow is Friday already! Love it!

I agree with Julie, it's just my opinion or feeling on the subject but even if I was having a traditional wedding I would not want to have a stag & doe. I just personally do not appreciate the concept of "raising money" for your wedding. I mean I'm sure it's nice to make money to put towards the wedding but I have been to a few for friends where seriously they were counting on making a certain amount from it and they kept calling it "proceeds" which just put me off. If you have to have a party and make your friends pay to attend to be able to afford your wedding, maybe you should consider instead scaling back a bit on the wedding so that it's more affordable. If you just want to be able to celebrate with friends/family who can't make it, it doesn't have to be expensive, you could have people byob even, but I don't feel it seems right to charge your friends to celebrate with you!

I would really like to try this, but I'm exercising a lot right now. I run 4 times a week about 4-5 miles and also have 2 workouts with a trainer each week. I'm worried I won't have enough energy to exercise... Anyone experience this? Ps Erika holy F that is amazing!!! Congrats on that weightloss!!

Heeeeeeeeeey! Happy Birthday.

Yael that looks so perfect!!! I am so happy everything worked out. Great review and congrats!!!

Ya I am curious too. Both my mom and FMIL have been asking me what they should wear!!

Happy Anniversary! Hope you will be celebrating!

Ana they're AMAZING!!!!

This is really interesting! I think we kept in mind: -All inclusive -Caters to weddings -Had other hotels in the chain in different countries/cities in case something goes wrong like the Dreams Tulum fiasco -Allowed outside vendors/photographer (very important to us) -Would allow weddings on Sundays (the date we wanted fell on a Sunday)

I'm also into Weeds! Because I am a crazy tv addict I've seen every episode. It's true it goes downhill after season 3. But I still watch! I've seen the first 2 eps of season 5 on surfthechannel.com and it's just such a different show now. And not as funny

We are having a relatively long engagement...so we have been spreading costs out over time. So we put a deposit for the photographer in Feb, I put a deposit for my dress back in the fall, and we're about to do the deposit for the room block now. That way it's not like we're paying everything all at once! Plus the deposit for the room block gets applied to our stay and it will actually cover the cost of our accomodations. So we're paying that now. So by the time our wedding comes we wont' be writing a cheque for $20K or anything like that. It seems to work for us anyway. Having money go automatically into a savings account each month does help as well!

That sounds fantastic! Very exciting!